Crimes of Persuasion

Schemes, scams, frauds.

Reporting Fraud and Scams to the
Proper Authorities

The act of reporting fraud and laying charges is quite different
from the process of seeking restitution from the criminals. What
they have in common though, is the labyrinth nature of determining
the agency responsible for effective action.

In addition to reporting the crime to your local police, the state
or provincial police, the RCMP, the FBI, the Secret Service, the
post office, the phone company, the local paper and television
station, the BBB, your credit card company, your bank, your Attorney
General, the local and state/provincial/federal Department of Consumer
Affairs, the SEC, or any and all other relevant securities administrators
and regulatory agencies for each state and province, and country.
The following agencies have a complaint tracking system to determine
trends and gather evidence for prosecution.

Though you may never see your money again, you can hopefully take
some joy in seeing justice done. It is only by the cumulative response
of angry victims that authorities will have the impetus to devote
resources, such as forensic accountants to trace the money, and
other costly manpower, to a particular operation. As well, if restitution
is available, having your name recorded increases the chance of
seeing some monetary recovery down the road.

The first step should be the fraud department of your local police.
If that experience doesn't totally discourage you from proceeding
further follow this list and contact each in turn until you give
up or get satisfaction. As part of sentencing, criminals should
be made to endure this administrative nightmare. As we gather more
information on the most effective means to report these crimes
this list will be modified to make your life just a little easier.

To ensure that your report is as complete as possible you should
do a bit of investigative work on the perpetrator before notifying
authorities. Fraud Investigation

If you determine that the criminals are operating outside your
country be sure to report to that country's agencies as well as
your own.

If you very industrious, and feel you are not getting anywhere,
take the general allegations you have and put them in Affidavit
format, complete with the specific statutory violations, you hand
the government the case on a plate. This could put them in the
position that they'd be publicly humiliated not to follow it up.

You could also put the thing together as a Case Prosecution Summary
(the way agents present cases to the US Attorney's Office) and
publish it on the Net.

Canadian Reporting Agencies for Fraud Victims

PhoneBusters is the central agency that collects information on
telemarketing complaints throughout Canada and disseminates this
information to the appropriate enforcement agency.

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police (RCMP) seek to curb organized telemarketing crime in Canada
through the joint operation of the PhoneBusters National Call Centre
(PNCC) which is supported by members of the Deceptive Telemarketing
Prevention Forum.

The mandate of PhoneBusters is to prosecute key individuals in
Canada involved in telemarketing fraud under the Criminal Code
of Canada and includes facilitating prosecution by United States
agencies through extradition, and by Industry Canada under the
Competition Act.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has developed a central web-based
crime reporting center entitled RECOL ('Reporting
Economic Crime On-Line'). The objective is to offer citizens
a single point of entry, via the phone, fax or Internet, to lodge
a complaint concerning any frauds, traditional or Internet based,
and have it directed quickly and efficiently to the respective
law enforcement or investigative agency for action.

Individuals who suspect possible corporate fraud may report suspicious
activity to the FBI in Washington, DC, via a toll-free Corporate
Fraud Hotline. The number is (888) 622- 0117.
The Hotline is manned Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. by
FBI analysts.

The FBI also has a terrorist tip
line which has been extended to include other serious crimes.

They have received over 600,000 tips from around the globe. Initially,
almost 100% of the tips received were related to the terrorist
attacks; however, now approximately 45% of all tips received are
related to almost every other FBI criminal program, e.g., drug
trafficking, organized crime, money laundering, pyramid schemes,
child pornography, fugitives, bank robbery.

The operation is completely automated and paperless. Submitted
tips are received immediately, reviewed within minutes and prioritized
by trained Professional Support personnel.

Get the Taxman After the Conman

Did the scammer report your losses as income or did they hide
it somewhere? If you suspect any tax fraud activity, you can report
it to the Internal Revenue Service toll free at 800-829-0433. You
may even get a reward by filing a Form 211 with the IRS.

International Reporting Agencies

United Kingdom Reporting Agencies

For those in the UK with no financial loss, examples of Internet
'419' Advance Fee Fraud should be forwarded to your local fraud
squad quoting 'NCIS West African Organised Crime Section' in your
correspondence.

If you HAVE lost money or there is a UK connection to the 419
operation contact NCIS by phone at 020 7238 8012.

Currently, businesses have no centralised police unit to report
e-crime to. The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) used to co-ordinate
e-crime reports until it was subsumed into the Serious Organised
Crime Agency (SOCA).

SOCA was formed in May 2006 as an amalgamation of the NHTCU, National
Crime Squad (NCS), National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS)
and a part of UK Immigration dealing with organised immigration
crime (UKIS).

As the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion do not
include specific references to pyramid clubs the Advertising Standards Authority Limited (website inactive 12/08) are unable to advise as to their
legality but they will look into complaints regarding mailings
about such schemes if they are causing offence, misleading consumers
or if there are issues regarding database practice.

Financial Services
Authority The regulatory body for the financial industry,
site has some alerts including scams etc related to the financial
industry.

Trading Standards
Administrations - Responsible for fair trading. They have
legal powers to stop scammers etc. They also offer advice for
consumers on the phone or by email. This site is the central
one and includes a post code search facility for the local offices
(over 200 of them).

Fraud
form, use this form only to report a fraud case to the Dutch
authorities if you have been the victim of these type of fraudulent
practices.

I am seeking an English-speaking contact in The Netherlands to
report the Nigerian syndicate operating there to the KLPD National
Police Agency, National Criminal Intelligence Division or the Netherlands
Police Institute.

SOUTH AFRICA

South African Police

South African Citizens and Residents

If you are a South African Citizen or Resident and have suffered
NO financial loss, write "No financial Loss - For your Database" on
the documents but if you are a South African Citizen or Resident
and YOU HAVE SUFFERED A FINANCIAL LOSS, write "Financial Loss" on
the documents you received and fax them to:

If anyone has received scam letters,
has been the victim of, or has any information about an advance-fee
fraud, they should contact Superintendent SC Schambriel, Commercial
Crime Head Office, at 012-393-1203, fax: 012-393-1202, or by
email:
hq.commercial@saps.org.za.

Individual progress reports will not be submitted to you where
there has been NO loss.

Captain Harry Baatjies is commander of the 10-man 419-scam task
team appointed to investigate the crime. Baatjies' team works closely
with a co-ordinating office at police headquarters in Pretoria,
headed by Superintendent Sicro Schambriel.

People who receive proposal letters they believe could be 419-scams are
asked to forward the e-mail to hq.commercial@saps.org.za along
with a note to say whether or not they have responded.

Anyone with information can contact Baatjies on 082-778-7899 or 011-870-5390
during office hours.

International Citizens and Residents wishing to report
incidents of Nigerian scams.

Please fax correspondence, especially any banking data, so that
it can be included in the Database. State what country you are
sending from, and state whether there has been a Loss or there
is No Loss. If there is a South African connection to the 4-1-9
operation, please clearly state exactly what that is and give details.

Do not expect to be contacted in either NO LOSS cases or in LOSS
CASES without a South African connection.

The International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network
offers an online complaint form.
This is part of a joint project by 17 nations and will allow consumer
protection agencies to spot current fraudulent schemes.

South Dakota residents - If you have been a victim
of a scam contact the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division
at 1-800-300-1986 or consumerhelp@state.sd.us